MELBOURNE, Fla. –
The Rollins College baseball team dropped a 12-3 decision to
host Florida Tech, Friday afternoon at Andy Seminick-Les Hall
Field.
Rollins (8-5, 2-2 Sunshine State Conference) registered 11 hits
despite being held to three runs. Designated hitter Bryan
Bennett and first baseman John
Avanzino led the Tars with two hits apiece.
Junior third baseman Ryan Luker smashed his fifth home run of
the season, a two-run shot to left field to record a team-high two
RBIs.
Florida Tech (10-6, 1-0 SSC) tallied 16 hits in its conference
opener. Third baseman Sam Palace went 3-for-5 with a game-best
four RBIs including a two run homer. Catcher Kevin Villa
registered the best hitting day, going 5-for-6 with three runs
scored.
Tar starter Stephen Hiscock (3-1) was dealt the loss after he
pitched 2.1 innings and gave up four runs off three hits. The
Naugatuck, Conn., native struck out four and walked three in his
two earned run performance.
For the Panthers, Jonathan Cornelius (4-1) was credited with the
victory pitching seven innings of no-run baseball, while striking
out nine. He surrendered seven hits and didn't give up a walk.
Errors hurt the Tars in the first few innings as the Panthers
scored half of its first six runs from Rollins lapses. In the
second, an error by Rollins' right fielder allowed the inning's
leadoff batter, Kevin Villa to eventually reach home.
In the following inning trailing 1-0, FIT again capitalized on a
pair of Rollins miscues. After back-to-back walks, the Panthers
scored Mitch Saum from second after a failed pickoff attempt by the
Tars. After a Villa fly out, Tech scored on a Palace single and
then advanced the runners on a wild pitch. After another error by
the Tars, Palace scored after moving to scoring position on a
fielder's choice.
In the sixth, the Panthers added two more runs, one of which
unearned after a Tars' error. Rollins got on the board in the top
of the eighth when Michael Garczynski, who came in for an
injured Jesse More, led off the frame with an infield
single to short.
With two outs, Luker roped a shot to left field recording the first
homer of the game and increased his team-high RBIs to 20.
The Panthers responded in the bottom half with six runs off seven
hits to secure the victory. The Tars added another run in the
ninth, but it wasn't enough as Florida Tech ran away with a
nine-point victory.
Rollins and Florida Tech will conclude its three-game conference
series, Saturday, Feb. 28. The doubleheader is slated to begin at
noon.
